This was the anthem scene at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., this afternoon for Predators-Panthers. It proves once and for all that there's no better setting for preseason hockey than a doubleheader that begins at 2:30 on a Monday in south Florida in the middle of September.

ukcanuck wrote:
Thomas had major league horse shoes the last couple of seasons with Boston and he had a Stanley cup calibre defence in front of him. He is going to get absolutely lit up if he comes out of retirement for the panthers. He's gonna need sunscreen from all ultraviolet rays coming off the goal light.

You may very well be right, but I'm hoping you're wrong

... seeing as how the Cats are now in the same division as the Leaves.

Thomas + Markstrom is a lot stronger than Markstrom + Clemmensen.

For the same reason, I'm glad that idjit Yzerman picked up Bishop just after the realignment announcement.

Well I am going to guess they don't want to open up the pandora's box of "what is HRR" just to deprive the Panthers of revenue sharing dollars (given their parent company is doing just fine despite the poor attendance and low prices) given that would be a fucking nightmare the next time CBA negotiations roll around..

The Edmonton Oilers have agreed to terms on a seven-year, $42 million contract extension with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Nugent-Hopkins, 20, has one year remaining on his three-year entry-level contract with the Oilers.

Watch the news conference live on TSN.ca at 6:30pm et/3:30pm pt.

The first overall pick from the 2011 NHL Draft had four goals and 20 assists in 40 games in Edmonton last season.

In 102 games over his first two seasons, Nugent-Hopkins has 22 goals and 54 assists.

The Oilers will have $32.175m committed to 8 forwards, $7m on two defensemen, and ZERO goalies for next season. Yakupov will be looking for a huge raise the season after. Basically, $40m on 10 players only with no goalies... It will be interesting to see how the Oilers are going to re-sign all their RFAs and UFAs at the end of the season.

Rumsfeld wrote:They'll be fine for a couple more years... Smyth and Hemsky will walk or get dumped at the deadline if the Oilers are out of it.

Plus the cap going up, yada yada...

Current Cap: $64.3m
Assumed that the cap goes up to $70m next season. That means the Oilers will have $30m to sign 2 NHL goalies, a minimum of 4 defensemen and 4 forwards. I assume that they will have to carry at least one extra defenseman and one extra forward...

Rumsfeld wrote:They'll be fine for a couple more years... Smyth and Hemsky will walk or get dumped at the deadline if the Oilers are out of it.

Plus the cap going up, yada yada...

Current Cap: $64.3m
Assumed that the cap goes up to $70m next season. That means the Oilers will have $30m to sign 2 NHL goalies, a minimum of 4 defensemen and 4 forwards. I assume that they will have to carry at least one extra defenseman and one extra forward...

The forwards they'll need to sign are all third/fourth line guys, and we've seen how cheaply they can be aquired under the new CBA.

I dunno, I hope they're completely fucked but I don't see major cause for alarm when I look at their roster.

darren wrote:RNH, wow. So much for "bridge contracts". (Nazem Kadri has virtually identical career numbers and had a much better year last year.)

The Oilers are basically banking on the idea that all of their young players are going to explode PK Subban style and that a bridge contract basically just means that on the deal after they'll be paying them $8m each instead of $6m.